The present invention is directed to a conveyor belt cleaner scraper blade for scraping adherent bulk material from a conveyor belt, and in particular to a conveyor belt cleaner scraper blade including one or more sensors for monitoring the operating conditions of the scraper blade.
Some conveyor mechanisms utilize a moving conveyor belt to transport sand, gravel, coal and other bulk materials, from one location to another. As the bulk material is discharged from the conveyor belt, a portion of the bulk material often remains adhered to the belt. Conveyor belt cleaners, including one or more scraper blades, are used to scrape the adherent material from the belt and thereby clean the belt. A primary conveyor belt cleaner may be placed in scraping engagement with the conveyor belt at the head pulley of the conveyor and a secondary conveyor belt cleaner may be placed in scraping engagement with and below the return run of the conveyor belt a short distance behind the primary conveyor belt cleaner. The scraper blades of a conveyor belt cleaner are removably attached to a rotatable or linearly adjustable cross shaft that extends transversely across the width of the conveyor belt. A tensioning device is attached to one or both ends of the cross shaft. The tensioning device applies a rotational or linear biasing force to the cross shaft which in turn moves the scraper blades into scraping engagement with the conveyor belt with a desired amount of force. During operation, the scraping edge of each scraper blade wears due to its scraping engagement with the rotating conveyor belt. The tensioner rotates or linearly adjusts the cross shaft and the scraper blades to maintain the scraper blades in biased scraping engagement with the conveyor belt.
In order to obtain optimum performance from the scraper blades of a conveyor belt cleaner, it is preferable that the scraper blades be biased into scraping engagement with the conveyor belt with a predetermined amount of force. If the scraper blades are biased against the conveyor belt with an excessive amount of force, this will result in excessive wear to the scraper blades, potential damage to the conveyor belt, and may cause the tip of the scraper blade to develop an excessively high temperature due to the friction generated between the scraper blade and the rotating conveyor belt. If the scraper blades are biased against the conveyor belt with too small of a force, the scraper blades may not effectively clean the conveyor belt. In addition, the scraping tip of the scraper blades may vibrate or chatter against the conveyor belt depending upon the amount of force with which the scraper blades are biased into engagement with the conveyor belt, thereby potentially damaging the scraper blades and/or the belt, and decreasing cleaning efficiency. It is therefore useful to monitor the conditions and parameters of a scraper blade during operation, such as the scraping tip temperature, the rate of wear of the scraper blade, and the magnitude of the force with which the scraper blade is biased into scraping engagement with the conveyor belt, to optimize the performance of the scraper blade. All of these parameters are subject to change depending on a number of factors including conveyor belt speed and the type of material being conveyed.
A conveyor belt cleaner scraper blade for cleaning the surface of a conveyor belt. The scraper blade includes a base member adapted to be attached to the cross shaft of a conveyor belt cleaner and a wear section that extends outwardly from the base member to a scraping tip which is adapted to engage the conveyor belt. The wear section of the scraper blade includes a plurality of temperature sensors that are located along the length of the wear section between the base member and the tip. The wear section may also include a plurality of first wear sensors and a plurality of second wear sensors spaced laterally apart from the first wear sensors. The first and second wear sensors are also located along the length of the wear section between the base member and the tip. The wear section may also include one or more strain gage sensors located along the length of the wear section between the base member and the tip. All of the sensors are in electrical communication with an electrical transmitter member in the base member which may be a cable port, an infrared signal port, a radio signal port, or other well known apparatus for collecting and transmitting electronic information. The cable port is adapted to be removably attached to an electrical cable and thereby to a computer. Each of the sensors may also be electrically connected to a microprocessor which is in electrical communication with the electrical transmitter member. Each temperature sensor provides an indication of the temperature of the wear section at the particular location of the temperature sensor. The strain gage sensors provide an indication of the magnitude of the strain the wear section is subjected to during scraping engagement with the conveyor belt. The wear rate sensors provide an indication of the location of the tip with respect to the base member as the wear section wears away due to its scraping engagement with the rotating conveyor belt and as the tip moves closer to the base member. Ultimately, the information which is sensed by the sensors and fed to the microprocessor may be utilized to vary the operating conditions of the conveyor belt including the speed of the belt, the tension applied by a conveyor belt cleaner tensioner, or possibly sounding an alarm or other signal.